Author Archives: gerry

The Tim Hortons Brier returns to Saskatoon for 2012, and this year presents us with a very intriguing field with two obvious favourites: Alberta’s Kevin Koe, and Ontario’s Glenn Howard. These teams, along with four others, could reach the playoffs and make some noise on the weekend.

Howard is 1-4 in the last 6 years in Brier finals, add an upset loss to Stoughton in the 2009 semifinals, and an overall 3-7 record in Brier Finals when including his games with brother Russ and you wonder how this stains his reputation on an elite team.

"Choker" is such a dirty word in sports, a title no one wants to be called. I wouldn’t assign that to Howard now, but in his early days as skip they did lose some big draws they shouldn’t have: two provincial finals after being a strong favourite (2004 to Mike Harris, 2005 to Wayne Middaugh) and nearly giving away a big lead when he finally won his first Ontario Tankard in 2006, again to Middaugh.

Jump to the 2006 Brier final, Howard as the class of the field only losing just one game in the round-robin, to give up a couple very bad early ends spotting Jean-Michel Menard with 4 stolen points to single-handedly hand over the game to the upstart Quebec team. If there was ever a definition of choking, I believe this would be it.

But in 2007, things changed for Howard. The last minute change prior to the final forcing Steve Bice into the lineup after Brent Laing left due to the birth of his child, likely forced Howard and team to focus more on the moment at hand, thus dispensing Middaugh again. After the win, the team walked into the Brier and dominated the field, losing only one round-robin game to Martin before slipping in the Page 1v2 game to Brad Gushue. Howard rebounded with a semifinal win over Jeff Stoughton and then took advantage of some youthful impatience to claim the Hamilton Brier trophy.

Howard went off to Worlds and posts one of the most dominant performances by a Canadian team, only losing a meaningless game to USA’s Todd Birr late in the Round-Robin and claiming World Championship Gold.

Since this win though, Howard has struggled in finals, but I have a hard time considering that he has “choked”. Choking implies being the favourite and outside of the 2010 Brier final against Kevin Koe, where Blake MacDonald stood on his head in the final to win the championship game, you can’t say Howard has ever been the favourite.

In 2008 in Winnipeg, Martin dominated the week, the beginning of the Fit to Curl revolution was evident in the team of John Morris, Marc Kennedy and Ben Hebert, who defeated Howard three times to claim the title. Howard came out of the three-four game, defeating Simmons to get to the final, but held the hammer to start the game, and used it effectively to win.

2009 in Calgary, Martin was the host province favourite, and cruised through the week, starting every game with the hammer and going undefeated. Howard lost a tight Page 1v2 game to Martin, and then struggled in the semifinal, losing to Jeff Stoughton.

In 2011 in London, Stoughton was the week’s best team, reaching the final and holding the hammer and best record. Howard had to defeat his arch-rival Martin in the Page 3v4 game and then Gushue in the Semifinal to get an opportunity at Stoughton. Problem was, only 1 team has ever won the Brier coming from the three-four game (Koe in 2010) and the effort required made him the strong underdog.

This is the year for Howard, and while it may seem like Kevin Koe could do it again to him, I don’t hold a lot of merit in the reasons why. Howard has had yet another dominant season, while Koe has struggled to find consistency with his squad. Howard is sitting second on the CTRS and Order of Merit, winning two Grand Slam titles and reaching the Semifinals in the other, while Koe sits sixth overall on the CTRS without a Tour victory to his name.

Howard holds a dominant advantage over Koe, a 14-4 record over the Alberta skip since he stepped back into the house again in 2006, including a 5-1 record this season. Howard’s confidence playing Koe is night and day different when compared to the other Wild Rose rock legend. If anyone has a right to feel snake-bitten, it’s Koe who has also lost three Grand Slam finals to Howard, and five Grand Slam finals overall. In addition to his 2010 Brier title, Koe has the 2008 Canada Cup title to his credit as well.

The other factors I considered to come to this pick is the big-game experience of Wayne Middaugh at Third Stone and the change of dynamic this brings to the Team Howard lineup, and the game that will really matter will be Thursday evening, which should go a long way in identifying who will win this Brier. Winner here gets the hammer in the Page 1v2 game and likely in the final as well.

I’ll pick Howard to win this one, and carry the all important hammer (and favourite tag) into the playoffs, and the Middaugh/Simmons matchup will be all the difference this time for Howard to prevail. Lock it in.

Finalist: Kevin Koe, Alberta

The question remains, can Kevin Koe get to the final? Outside of the other challengers, none have a lot of success against Koe, and you know he’ll place high during the week. Give Koe the hammer against everyone else, and they’re tough to beat.

Playoff Bound: Rob Fowler, Manitoba

My third pick will go to Manitoba’s Rob Fowler, a hugely underrated team who wins a lot of games. Overshadowed by Jeff Stoughton and Mike McEwen, Fowler holds his own in the Grand Slams, rarely missing the playoffs. He has Howard’s number to an extent as well, and I predict Fowler will jump ahead of the “other four” with a win over Howard in the Round-Robin.

Fourth Place: Brad Gushue, Newfoundland & Labrador

A strong team and they’re likely the only of the “other four” I can see winning the whole event. Gushue has big game experience and put his team on his shoulders last year and got them into the Page 1v2 game. After a switch in November, the young front end of Adam Casey and Geoff Walker have gelled and the results on the season show this team is always dangerous.

Tiebreakers:

Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs and British Columbia’s Jim Cotter are again on the brink. Jacobs has been playing well, I just wonder if they play these big teams enough to be able to beat them when it counts. Jim Cotter and his team of Kevin Folk, Tyrel Griffith and Rick Sawatsky finished the year strong, reaching the semifinals in the most recent Grand Slam event, and they’ll be a team to watch this week.

Shooting for .500

Quebec's Robert Desjardins has been in contention in Quebec, losing several finals before breaking through at third with Francois Gagne last season. “Bob” has stepped back into the skipping shoes and finished the job this season and will be a team to be careful with here.

The Rest of the Field:

I’ll rank the rest of the teams together, I can’t see more than 4 wins out of any of them, unless one decides to go and beat all the other teams down here. Ice conditions are not what any of these teams are used to, and several surprises from normally strong representatives make predicting success a difficult proposition for these teams.

Team Saskatchewan and Scott Manners is a great feel-good story, but I hope the home crowd doesn’t boo them late in the week when they’re trying to scratch out a few extra wins. Bruce Korte would have likely been able to get into the .500 group, but missed two makeable shots to give Manners the opportunity to be the Cinderella darlings. On a side-note, when Saskatchewan is hosting the Brier, I’m not sure putting their provincials into a club facility is the best way to send a well-prepared team who might win the first Brier for Saskatchewan since 1982.

Jamie Koe and his Territories squad just don’t play enough down south, he put a great run together with three friends and ran to the final in the Red Deer Classic, but I’m afraid he’s showing up to the party lacking a lot of ammunition to work with.

Nova Scotia’s Jamie Murphy, PEI’s Mike Gaudet and New Brunswick’s Terry Odishaw were all minor surprises out of their provinces, but again it’s going to be a struggle for these teams.

Remember Sandra Schmirler's team of 1998, winners of the Olympic Gold Medal in Nagano, Japan? It's been a some time since then, and while all players are seemingly "retired" from competitive play, they're still proving they've got game.

The team plays in the Quarterfinals again Suzanne Birt at 2am Eastern time. A side-note on Birt's trip to Berne, which was a result of winning the Curl Atlantic Championship in September, a new event built to give teams in the Atlantic regions more opportunities to play on arena ice and travel abroad. This should setup Birt well for upcoing Scotties playdowns.

Delays in the birth Jill Officer's child Camryn may see her miss her expected return date to Team Jennifer Jones in the Manitoba Scotties. A big loss for the team in what will be a hotly contested provincial with Chelsea Carey and Cathy Overton-Clapham also in attendance.

Ontario Challenge Rounds are taking place for the Scotties, and Tankard East and West playdowns. Sherry Middaugh punched her ticket to the Provincial Scotties in Kenora, after a great season. If Middaugh can win the Provincials, she'll set herself up well to claim the 2nd Olympic Trials berth directly to Winnipeg as she's sitting 2nd on the CTRS list, with Jones already qualified through.

John Epping's playdown season is also over, dropping two games in the East Challenge Round, completing a stunning fall after reaching the final of the GP Car & Home Grand Slam event in Sault Ste Marie in November.

In Alberta, the Junior Men's and Women's playoffs are now set, with Semifinals and Finals going Sunday, beginning at 9am Mountain Time from Medicine Hat.

Play continues through Sunday in the Open, Seniors and Senators divisions, and the Main event is drawing to a conclusion. Tonight's Quarterfinals in the Open event have Steve McKerihen of High Park taking on Brent Swain of Brent Swain of Richmond Hill, Tom Dearie of High Park against John Leermakers of Dixie, Mike Maddin of Richmond Hill against Brian Jackson of Bayview and The Dominion Club Championship runners up Greg Balsdon of Richmond Hill taking on John Bell of Unionville.

The Seniors and Senators events are down to the Semifinals, with Elgin Horton of St. George's facing Garry McCullough of Thornhill and Brian Roblin of Scarborough facing Art Leganchuk of Bayview in the Seniors. Ron Barnes of Oakville takes on George Aubrey of Weston and Mike Shields of York plays on Ross Baker of Unionville in the Senators section.

Play continues through Saturday, with the Seniors and Mens Finals on RogersTV at 2pm and 5pm respectively. Coverage by Olympic Silver Medalist and Broadcast personality Mike Harris.

After a severe thrashing at last year's World Financial Group Continental Cup in St. Albert, the leaders of the World side have instituted a no drinking rule for the entire event. It will be interesting to see how this turns out, but the sport has tended in this direction in Europe, so this shouldn't be a big adjustment for the teams.

Squads like Team Edin and Norberg of Sweden, Muirhead and Brewster out of Scotland and Wang of China and Ulsrud of Norway are all high-level funded Olympic athletes who are restricted from drinking often during competition. This is just an extension of this and the approach the World is taking shows how this event ranks in the importance of the curling schedule for these teams.

Showing more growth of the sport, Oklahoma City Curling Club is offering a Learn to Curl, a four week session to teach new players the game.

Another great followup story from Al Cameron on the Scotties Alberta Southerns, he really does a great job following the stories and this time touches on Heather Jensen's move to throwing skip stones for Glenys Bakker and their run to qualify for the Alberta Scotties.

In other exciting news coming out of Rama, The Dominion will take over the sponsorship of the TSN Skins game, bumping it back to $100,000 and offering the fans a way to vote in their favourite players. Another interesting concept and I'm looking forward to it. Fans pitch in with their thoughts here.

Doering 16, along with third Colton Lott, 16, second Kyle Kurz, 16 and lead Lucas Van Den Bosch 17, sends a young representative to Nationals that if they're not competitive this year, will gain immense experience towards building an young dynasty in Manitoba.

Scotties Qualifying in Alberta, sees Casey Scheidegger (story) and Lisa Eyamie (story) earn the first two Southern berths, while in the North, Val Sweeting, Candace Wanechko and Jessie Kaufman earned the three spots. Renee Sonnenberg returns to the Provincials after a very strong cash season.

In a well fought match at the TSN Skins Game at Casino Rama that Kevin Koe's team had control of throughout the game, it still took a couple miscues in the eight end by Kevin Martin to for Koe take the win.

This is really beast of skins, you can play well all game and when your opposition puts on late pressure, it can come down to making the last few shots in the game. Martin knew this, and kept their composure for most of the game, even though they seemed to struggle at times.

An interesting moment in the game, when Martin remarked that they had made the wrong call, leaving a shot for Koe to sit two in the 4th end. Don't hear this from Martin often, and rarely see a strategy mistake like this from the 5 time Skins winner.

Tonight, Glenn Howard takes on Jeff Stoughton in the other semi-final, and the pro-Ontario crowd will surely be out in support of "Cliffy" and his band of Skins Masters. This year, Howard can point to Middaugh and his Skins mastery of the past and lean a bit on his shotmaking potential at third stone. Game time, 8pm on TSN.

Some Quick Hitters:

Scotties Regional playdowns are taking place in Gananoque and Penetanguishene this weekend, as teams play to qualify for the Provincials in Kenora. The Kenora Curling Club is preparing to host this prestigious event. Early returns on the Regionals has reigning provincial champion Rachel Homan sitting at 2-0 and another favourite Sherry Middaugh is 1-1 after dropping into the B-side.

A three way tie for first in Green Bay at the Midwest South Regional, and the teams will play for the three spots. Winner goes directly to Nationals, with 2nd and 3rd place advancing to the Challenge Round. In the semifinals, Blake Morton takes on Mike Farbelow and John Benton gets Paul Pustovar.

In even exciting news coming out of the USA, the long talked about a new facility in Blaine, Minnesota to give the Twins Cities another needed curling club seem to be moving forward as well.

Susie Dunlap and Randy Czarnetzki would be the first to call their upcoming March wedding “a crazy idea.” In fact, that’s exactly what they do call it.

When Dunlap walks down the aisle this March, it will be on the ice at the Willmar Civic Center in Minnesota. The couple is planning to lay carpet and place chairs on either side of the “aisle” for close friends and family, and the rest of the guests will sit in the warming area. More on the story here.

Imagine being teenagers and offered the opportunity to compete for Canada on the International stage?

The dream is a reality for four young Canadian kids who will compete at the Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria running January 13 to 22. The squad, selected by the Canadian Curling Association from across the country include to compete include Thomas Scoffin of the Yukon, Corryn Brown of Kamloops, BC, Derek Oryniak of Winnipeg, and Emily Gray of Prince Edward Island. Brown was also honoured with the task of carrying the Canadian Flag in the opening ceremonies.

The mixed squad was put together last season for the purposes of preparing together for this season, in an experiment that will certainly be examined closely, something unheard of in Canada.

Gray documented here season on the CCA website, with a blog in preparation for the event, with her lastest entry found here. Best of luck to the team in the event, the memories of the experience will last a lifetime and is great preparation for these young curlers.

The Stars and Stripes of the United States will also be represented in Austria, by a team from the East Coast. Korey Dropkin, Thomas Howell and a set of twin sisters, Sarah and Taylor Anderson of Broomall, Pennsylvania, who have double the fun!

Some Quick Hitters:

How about some Beer and Curling? The go together so well that the CCA has welcomed on a new sponsor, in the Great Western Brewing Company, for events in Western Canada. Welcome aboard!

Curling continues to pop up in new places in the United States, and Indiana is no exception. After a successful competitive cash spiel this fall in Fort Wayne, the capital city of Indianapolis also has grabbed a foothold with the Circle City Curling Club.

As the United States Playdowns open this weekend, with coverage on CurlingZone.com as well as USACurl.org, a little controversy is coming out of Green Bay's Midwest South Regional as two entries have dropped out late, resulting in multiple efforts to rework the schedule.

David Brown of Madison, Wisconsin and Josh Bahr of Bemidji, Minnesota dropped out in the last two days and the event is still awaiting a reworked final schedule as play begins in less than 24 hours on Thursday at 2pm Central time.

The result of this has lead people to call for sanctions and this is not unheard of within the game. In Ontario playdowns, a late dropout prior to the event without cause could lead to up to a two-year suspension from play, and maybe it's time for this to be instituted here as the whole field now awaits changes that could drastically alter the draw.

The other issue is that berths are awarded on a floating basis across the country, with the calculations being done based on the strength of field at each event, and changes to fields could drastically affect all events. Sources say this wont affect things this season, but it may result in issues in the future.

Bill Baker, Chair of the 117th Toronto Curling Association Goldline Men's Bonspiel is preparing for the big task of organizing the annual January event, with 283 teams entered this year and games spread out across the Greater Toronto Area. Game begin on Saturday, January 7th with the finals on Saturday Jan 14, which will be televised on Rogers Cable.

A made for TV showcase goes again this weekend at Casino Rama outside Orillia, Ontario as four of curling's name teams are invited to battle for $75,000 in cash in the TSN Skins Curling Game. You can follow the action this weekend on TSN.

While it does have many great teams on the ice in Jeff Stoughton, Glenn Howard, Kevin Martin and Kevin Koe, it will be missing curling's #1 ranked team as brought up in the comments section. A very good question indeed.

McEwen will be working on extending his points lead on the Order of Merit and CTRS this weekend playing (and getting in a little golf?) in the Mecure Perth Masters in Scotland, while the only incentive for Martin, Howard, Koe and Stoughton will be the cold hard cash at Rama. McEwen might be missing out on potential notoriety, but with the all important Olympic Trials berth on the line, McEwen might be happy to see these guys (Howard, Stoughton, Koe) "wasting" a weekend playing for cash.

Goldline Curling's Team Martin has already got his Olympic Trials berth, and make the points chase irrelevant to them, so a little cash never hurts the pocket book.

Some Quick Hitters:

Make good on those New Year’s resolutions — get a copy of Fit to Curl: A Sport-Specific Guide to Training for the World’s Greatest Game by Olympic Gold Medalist John Morris. You can buy it at fittocurl.com and at your favourite pro shop.